Generally, semiconductor devices are used in a variety of electronic applications, such as computers, cellular phones, personal computing devices, and many other applications. Home, industrial, and automotive devices that in the past comprised only mechanical components now have electronic parts that require semiconductor devices, for example.
Semiconductor devices are manufactured by depositing many different types of material layers over a semiconductor workpiece, wafer, or substrate, and patterning the various material layers using lithography. The material layers typically comprise thin films of conductive, semiconductive, and insulating materials that are patterned and etched to form integrated circuits (ICs). There may be a plurality of transistors, memory devices, switches, conductive lines, diodes, capacitors, logic circuits, and other electronic components formed on a single die or chip, for example.
For many years in the semiconductor industry, optical lithography techniques such as contact printing, proximity printing, and projection printing have been used to pattern and alter material layers of integrated circuits. Optical photolithography involves projecting or transmitting light to expose a layer of photosensitive material on a semiconductor workpiece through a pattern comprised of optically opaque or translucent areas and optically clear or transparent areas on a lithography mask or reticle. After development, the photosensitive material layer is then used as a mask to pattern or alter an underlying material layer of the semiconductor workpiece.
There is a trend in the semiconductor industry towards scaling down the size of integrated circuits, to meet the demands of increased performance and smaller device size. As features of semiconductor devices become smaller, lithography processes become more difficult.
Thus, what are needed in the art are improved lithography systems and methods for patterning and processing material layers of semiconductor devices.